SOLO
by Twilight PhoenixFyre
Summary: "And I don't wanna walk S-O-L-O..." Desirae Iren's life is over just as it's beginning, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have something to say about it. Or a certain group of Guardians to keep an eye on. Though her boss would probably be a bit happier with her if she'd stop avoiding one of them... 'T' just in case. Part I of V.
1. Chapter 1, Call Me Away From Here

**Hello! Kairi/Twilight PhoenixFyre here! This is the first story I'm posting for this particular fandom... Anyway, SOLO is Part I of a five-part series. There's about twelve chapters to this one, so let's get started! (Please comment on your way out.)**

**Disclaimer: If I'm using FanFiction, it should be obvious that I don't own anything. Except OC's. (Of which there are many.)**

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It had to be a dream. There was no way this was happening again.

"_And now you got me trapped up on this isle and with no way to get home~"_

A grin spread across my face as I sang, letting my heart out with each word. I glanced over at my boyfriend, noting the ecstatic look on his face, and seeing it echoed in the rest of their faces.

"'_Cause I was so high, and now I'm so low~"_

All of the months we had spent practicing, preparing, pushing ourselves to the limits and past, it had all come down to this. If we did well tonight, we'd definitely be going to Chicago for the Band Off. Four bands would be chosen out of dozens. That would be our ticket to the big leagues. Not just opening for other bands, concerts of our own.

"_I don't want to walk this earth if I got to do it solo… Solo~"_

I would have started bouncing around the stage at that thought if I hadn't been so absorbed in the song. I still haven't decided if it was a good thing that I didn't give in to my giddiness.

"_I don't wanna walk S-O-L-O. I don't ever wanna let your love go~"_

This night would be one I would never forget. I already knew that.

**Call Me Away From Here**

The girl's hair was black and streaked with violet, but upon even a second glance, it was obvious that it was dyed. Closer to the roots, a light brown peeked out. She knew she needed to re-dye her hair, but she was too happy at that point to care.

"_I don't want to walk this earth if I gotta do it solo~"_ she sang, loud and clear, obviously enjoying every moment she spent on the stage. Behind her, beating out a steady, upbeat rhythm, was another girl, again with obviously dyed hair that went from brown near the roots to lime green to light blue.

The third and final girl on the stage was at the keyboard near the drum set, her long hair dyed a dark blue. Two boys, one brunette, the other black-haired, stood to either side of the lead singer in front. A streak of dark blue accented the brunette guitarist's pulled-back hair, while two streaks, one violet, one white, were easily visible in the bassist's spiked black hair. All five of them had grins on their faces, even as the song came near its close.

"_I don't wanna walk S-O-L-O~"_

Two shots rang out in the crowd before the screams started. The lead singer stopped singing mid-word, though whether in shock or just because her adrenaline had kicked in and was sending her running away from the shooter, her friends weren't sure.

"Des!"

The girl seemingly ignored the brunette boy, running off stage and into the back, then out the door. Her mind was in a frenzy, as was her heart, but there was only so much her heart could do at that point.

She collapsed only a few blocks from the auditorium, looking down at her gut in shock as she finally registered that she was bleeding heavily from the wound.

"Stupid… Shouldn't have run…" she croaked. She fell, landing roughly on her side in an attempt to be a little less rough on her stomach.

Her vision was swimming when she thought she saw something. It looked like a golden cloud of… well, sand… But that was impossible, her mind told her.

Her heart disagreed, telling her mind to shut up, that the blood loss was causing it to function improperly…

And then, rather than her vision showing her a golden man on a cloud of golden sand, it went black. Her mind screamed at her to do something, to hold on.

Her heart was silent.

"Des? Des?" the brunette teen called. The four, plus four others who had been back stage for the performance, had been wandering around town for hours, looking for their lead singer.

"Why don't we try back at the auditorium, Nathan? I mean, she probably realized how stupid running was and went back," the dark blue-haired girl prompted. Nathan crossed his arms.

"I don't know, Sarah. I mean, she's never done something like this before," he replied. A brunette girl with violet highlights huffed in frustration.

"Look, Cheyenne and Brendan have school in the morning, Justine still has to call Sarah… Sanchez, obviously, and I promised I'd call my parents tonight," she grumbled, nodding toward a redheaded girl and a dark-haired boy, both of whom were abnormally thin, before gesturing at a girl whose naturally orange hair clashed with her pink-dyed bangs.

"Shandon's right, guys. Desirae's gonna show up whenever she feels like showing up," Cheyenne agreed. Sarah looked at the girl whose hair was now in three colors, before exchanging a look with the black-haired male who had been on stage earlier.

"Rabecah? You wanna come with me and Chris?" she asked. Rabecah shook her head.

"No, let's all just go back to the auditorium. With Brittney in the hospital after that accident, Kylie watching her, and Desirae missing, I really think we should stick together," she argued. Justine nodded.

"Rabecah's right. Besides, Des would agree," she added. Sarah sighed and gave Chris a look, but the teen just shrugged.

"Back to the auditorium then, I guess," Nathan muttered. The eight of them started walking, not bothering to hurry as they had been earlier. Their eyes wandered, but none of them expected to see their missing friend.

A quiet gasp from Nathan changed that as the large teen ran into a dark alleyway.

"Yes, because running into dangerous places is wise," Justine muttered. Then her look, previously one of mild annoyance, shifted to one of horror as the other seven saw what had gotten Nathan's attention.

"Des? Des?" Nathan whispered, holding the dark-haired girl gingerly. On the other side of her body, invisible to the entire group, a short, golden man rested a hand on her arm. The Sandman, as most knew him, frowned, watching the mostly-female group gather around her.

"Des?" Nathan's voice was choked up now, and tears fell one at a time as he continually tried to find a pulse in the girl's neck.

Sarah fell to her knees at the sight of the bullet wound in her friend's stomach. "Oh no…" she whispered. Cheyenne gasped and walked away, the blood doing her in, and Brendan followed her, sitting next to the redhead and wrapping an arm around her shoulder. Justine and Shandon sat against the wall, unable to support themselves, while Rabecah reacted similarly to Sarah, falling to her knees in shock as tears began to fall. Chris knelt to comfort both of them, despite tears of his own forming.

"Not… fair…" Nathan choked, laying her down slightly and touching the charm bracelet on her left wrist gently. "Not… Not on her birthday…"

Invisible to them as he was, there was nothing Sandy could do to comfort the grieving teens.

"_Sleep, and she will awaken…"_

Sandy started as the words appeared unbidden in his mind. It had only happened a few times before, so why now, of all times? And what was it supposed to mean?

He turned and looked up at the full moon that was suddenly free from the clouds it had been hiding behind.

The Sandman blinked in shock as he realized he had been given the choice to create another spirit. He looked at the girl's friends, then up at the moon again, before making up his mind and gathering a small cloud of dream sand around himself. It separated into eight different streams, putting each of the teens to sleep quickly and effectively, and leaving the dead girl laying free of Nathan's arms.

The moonbeam became more concentrated suddenly, focusing on the girl. Sandy watched in fascination as the bullet wound disappeared. Her hair, naturally light brown but dyed black and violet, lost all color in an instant, becoming perfectly white before streaks of black trailed through it.

Her eyes opened as she gasped in air, and Sandy smiled sadly. Her eyes, once a vibrant green, were now bright gold that rivaled the color of his sand. She looked around her, noting the golden dreams that floated above the heads of her friends, before looking at Sandy himself.

"Oh no. I'm having a really bad dream," she said simply. He gave her a sympathetic look, then an image formed over his head, only to be replaced quickly by another as he held out one hand, then the other. The skull and moon got their points across perfectly to her as she scowled.

"Of course, because I really want them to…" she trailed off as she stood and looked down. "Eek…yeah… Because _that_ is the first thing I want to see after being reborn or revived or whatever," she muttered. Sandy flinched slightly, and she growled.

Then her eye sight caught on Nathan, and she clenched her jaw shut. She only watched the apparent wedding playing out over his head for a few moments before she turned away, tears falling freely.

Sandy frowned and examined the 'bride' carefully, before jumping back in shock and looking up at the girl whose shoulders shook in silent sobs. An image started appear over his head for a moment before he decided against asking. The moon had disappeared behind the clouds again, and he sighed silently.

After shooting one last glance at the girl, he gathered a cloud of sand beneath him and floated back up into the night sky. He still had work to do, and she… she would need some time to come to terms with what had happened.

By the time her friends started waking, the spirit who had been Desirae had managed to stop her crying. Sarah was the first to stir, followed by Cheyenne and Brendan, then Shandon, then Nathan, and finally Justine, Chris, and Rabecah.

"How… could we have fallen asleep?" Rabecah muttered, noting that the sky was becoming lighter in the east. Justine smirked in an attempt to pull some humor into the situation.

"Maybe the Sandman paid us a visit," she joked. The spirit nearby laughed.

"Wow, pegged it in one try. Good going, Justine," she joked.

Nathan's head jerked up, locking onto the spirit and causing her to freeze in shock. "Des?" he whispered. The spirit frowned.

"Okay… I am dead. This should not be happening…" she muttered. Then she noticed the odd looks on the faces of her other friends, and she sighed. "Sorry, Nathan. But I think it's best that you forget about me being here for now," she said, walking over to her boyfriend and placing a hand on his head. His vision became blurry for a moment before it cleared.

When it did, the spirit was sitting on the roof of the building nearest the group. She clamped her jaw shut again, but it didn't last long. "I love you," she whispered.

Without another word, she stood and walked away.


	2. Chapter 2, Snowing on a Pity Party

_Nine years later…_

I nodded to myself as I walked around the pond. This… This was perfect.

"_Staring out at the rain with a heavy heart~"_

I let a small smile slip onto my lips as I sang. It had been a couple weeks since I had sang just to entertain myself. I felt as if I'd forgotten what it was like, almost.

"_I've been looking for the answer, somewhere~"_

I was barely halfway through the first verse when the kids showed up. They left me only a couple of options. I could either wrap the song around me and become practically invisible, or I could just keep singing and let them listen.

"_Because you make me believe in myself when nobody else can help~"_

I decided to let them listen. What was the use of singing to entertain myself if I wrapped it around me?

"_What is life, what's the use, if you're killing time~"_

"Hey, guys! Easter is in three days, right? Are you guys going to the egg hunt?" one of the kids asked his friends. My song choked off mid-word. Three days before Easter…

**Snowing on a Pity Party**

"Well excuse me for raining on your little pity party," Jamie grumbled as he walked away. He didn't recognize the woman at all, but her hairstyle told him all he needed to know, meaning that she wasn't from around there. Black with white tips here and there was not natural, which mean it was dyed. And her hair was really long, even when pulled up into a ponytail. He hadn't caught sight of her golden eyes until she practically hissed at him to get away from her.

The ten-year-old hadn't even noticed her sitting there, for heaven's sake! Let alone the fact that she was crying! And then, when he had tried to comfort her, she just snapped at him.

A sudden wind drew his book out of his hands, and he ran to grab it.

"Huh, that looks interesting," a white-haired and invisible (to Jamie and his friends, at least) teen commented. "Good book?"

He was, of course, ignored.

"Yeah, snow day!" one of Jamie's friends cheered as they walked off. The white-haired teen smiled.

"You're welcome!" he called, as if they could hear him. Then he spotted the woman that had snapped at Jamie. Blue headphones covered her ears now. "And I think I'll come back to check on you later…" he decided before running off after the kids.

Once he was gone, the woman looked out over the ice, sorrow written clearly across her features.

"Nine years, dead. Eighteen years, alive. That makes twenty-seven now… Damn it," she muttered under her breath. She dropped her head into her hands again, then heard the sounds of a group of children yelling happily. She smiled. "Oh well. Might as well have a bit of fun, seeing as how it is my birthday," she decided, following the path the kids had taken into town.

A snowball fight had just started within eyesight, and she ran over, picking up a snowball as she did so.

And then the girl off to the side, the one not participating in the snowball fight, got hit with one in the back of the head. Everyone stopped in shock and horror.

"Oh no… I hit Cupcake…" the only other girl of the group whispered.

"She hit Cupcake," a nerdy-looking blonde said fearfully.

"You hit Cupcake…" a darker skinned boy whispered.

Cupcake turned, something reminiscent of a snarl on her face and a snowman's head in her hands.

The woman spotted the white-haired teen from earlier just before he tossed the snowball at her, managing to hit her right in the face. Cupcake looked like she was trying desperately not to laugh before she gave in. The next thing the woman knew, Cupcake was chasing the other kids around, waving the snowman's head over hers like it was a really big snowball. Which, the woman reflected, it technically was.

"What, you just gonna stand there instead of joining in?" the white-haired teen asked as he flew past her. She tossed the snowball she had been playing around with, getting him in the middle of his back and causing him to stumble.

Wide blue eyes looked back at her in shock as a smirk worked its way across her expression.

"What? You told me to join in," she teased before walking off. The boy grinned and ran off after the kids again after looking between her and them.

Meanwhile, the girl jumped from the street, to a trashcan, then to a windowsill, then a roof. She smiled slightly as she watched the white-haired teen create an ice path for the brown-haired boy she'd snapped at. She rolled her eyes at the teen. "Way to be reckless, kid," she muttered, referring to the older of the two boys.

The whoops and hollers of the younger boy's friends just made her smile more as she jumped from rooftop to rooftop to reach the park. The white-haired boy landed neatly on a statue, while the younger boy landed in the snow pile below it.

"Did you guys see that?!" the brunette asked, jumping up out of the snow. The woman laughed, then spotted the pink sofa that was headed straight for him.

"Look out!" she yelled, a bit too late, as it crashed into the kid. The white-haired teen flinched and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'whoops'.

The boy stuck his hand into the air. "Cool, a tooth!" he cheered. Any and all joy in the white-haired teen's expression faded quickly as the kids' thoughts went from the snow day to the tooth fairy. The woman watched sadly from the rooftop nearby as he jumped in front of the group.

One of the kids walked straight through him, and the woman sighed, turning and walking away from that corner.

Some time later, she spotted the white-haired boy again, half-hanging off of a roof as he watched through a window upside-down. She smiled, recognizing the boy inside as the one from earlier.

She jumped a few roofs to land softly behind him before getting as close as she could. "Stalker, much?" she said cheerfully, eliciting a surprised squeak from the teen as he tumbled from his already-precarious perch. He glared at her.

"What was that for?" he asked. She giggled.

"Sorry. Been a while since I've talked with another spirit. And I mean actually talked _with_, not _to_. I'd have left you alone otherwise, probably," she told him. He leaned on his staff.

"The Sandman?" he guessed. She got a look on her face that he decided he was better off not trying to figure out. She nodded and started walking off along the roof.

"Yeah," she muttered. Then she smirked. "So… What's your name?" she asked. The boy smiled.

"Jack. You?" he told her. She nodded.

"I'm Syn," she said simply. Jack frowned.

"Just Syn?" he wondered. Syn sighed.

"Well… Synclaire," she replied. Jack looked curious.

"What's wrong with Synclaire?" he asked. Syn continued to wander along, jumping from one roof to the next as she ran out of space.

"I don't like it. It's too… elegant," she replied. Jack shrugged and jumped out onto a power line, walking along it and freezing it as he did so. Syn watched him off to one side before frowning. "Huh… That's odd…" she muttered.

Jack looked over at her. "What's odd?" he wondered. Syn shook her head.

"I just got called upon. Me, the one who's usually on messenger duty, getting called with a message. Weird," she muttered. Jack frowned.

"Message?" he asked. Syn shrugged.

"Yup. Something about the Man in the Moon choosing a new Guardian and a warning regarding the Bogeyman. Really, I don't care. Nine years in, and I'm just waiting for everyone I knew before becoming a spirit to grow old and die so I don't have to keep watching them," she rambled in reply. "Which reminds me… I need to go have a nice long chat with Goldie. And he is not going to enjoy it, either…"

Jack frowned. "Wait, what do you mean 'before becoming a spirit'?" he asked. Syn gave him a look.

"Exactly that. Nine years ago, on this day, I died and was reborn as the spirit I am now," she told him. Jack's expression faded into shock as they stopped moving, with him balancing on the power lines and her standing on the nearest roof.

"You mean, you had a life, a _family_, before you were…?" he trailed off. Syn nodded.

"Yeah… All of us did," she replied slowly. Jack sat precariously on the line in pure shock.

"You mean… I… I had a… a family?" he whispered. Syn frowned, then her expression softened.

"You really don't remember, do you?" she asked. Jack looked up at her, sorrow in his expression as he shook his head 'no'. Syn sighed. "You planning on sticking around here another few weeks?" she inquired. Jack nodded, confusion crossing his features as she smiled. "Well then. I guess it's time I go collect on that favor," she muttered. Then, taking a couple of running steps before she began glowing, she flew over him. "See you later, Jack. I'll be back soon!"

Syn left the small town behind her and headed through the skies for her destination, humming softly to herself. The glow around her changed in color from a soft silver to violet, before the scene in front of her eyes shifted so entirely that she had to blink a few times to be sure she was seeing correctly. Of course, she had been expecting the change, but that didn't make it any less sudden.

The glow around her body had shifted back to silver before a different song came to mind. She started humming it, not surprised to find that her aura wasn't shifting to the deep sapphire she had become accustomed to associating with Toothiana. Instead, it was a lighter blue as she managed to contact several of the mini-fairies that Tooth worked with. Syn hummed an announcement into the tune, as well as making sure that they knew she came in peace.

She had just been surrounded by chattering mini-fairies when the first of the black sand horses appeared. Syn frowned, then her eyes widened as the horses started taking the canisters of teeth.

"Get as many of the teeth here as you can!" she yelled. "Hurry!"

Then she crossed her arms over her chest and began to sing.

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**Kairi: So, we finally get a little action. Obviously, the first half of this takes place during the movie. So, anyway... Probably going to update at least once a week, depending on how far ahead I am. But, whatever. Please feel free to comment.**


	3. Chapter 3, S Iren

**So, I was kinda (read: two weeks) late with this one... Oops... Well, here ya go. And the next chapter's going up as well today. (Please review...)**

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I never knew how I had managed to peg this one song as my most powerful for concentrating magic into whatever I needed it to be, but I had.

"_A clouded dream on an earthly night hangs upon the crescent moon~"_

A wide silvery circle appeared around me and the mini-fairies began dropping tooth canister after tooth canister inside the circle, pausing within for only as long as they dared to wait before retrieving more.

"_A voiceless song in an ageless night sings at the coming dawn~"_

Now that the shielded circle was fully in place, I could begin weaving a message into my song as well. Toothiana would be the first to receive it, followed by Bunnymund, and then North and Sanderson.

"_Birds in flight are calling there where the heart moves the stones~"_

The number of black sand horses increased, but so did the size of the pile of teeth I protected. I smiled as the glow around my body, which had been the same silver as the circle around me, became a deep sapphire blue before shifting to emerald green.

"_It's there that my heart is calling for, all for the love of you~"_

My glow then shifted to a jolly red, and finally a shade of gold that matched my eyes and rivaled the Sandman's dreamsand, and I smiled and closed my eyes as I focused all of my magic into the shield once more. Help would most definitely be on its way.

**S. Iren**

"We've got a problem, mate. Trouble at the Tooth Palace," Bunny stated, Sandy floating up behind them. North stopped for a moment and tilted his head to the side, as if listening to something. "Sheesh, about time you get the message," Bunny grumbled.

North gave Sandy a bit of an exasperated look, but the golden man's expression told him all he needed to know. "You have not heard summons?" he asked. Sandy shook his head worriedly, as Jack frowned.

"Message? What message?" he wondered. Bunny sighed as North took up his coat and hat and led them through the North Pole.

"Siren's calling. And not a song I recognize, either, which is saying something," he explained. Then he looked over his shoulder and frowned. "And I take it you just got the message?" he guessed. Sandy had an almost blank expression on his face before he nodded.

A picture of what appeared to be a mage of sorts and then a dreaming child appeared over his head.

"A mage?" Bunny guessed. Sandy shook his head. "Wizard?" Wrong again. "Sorcerer?" Sandy huffed in exasperation.

Jack frowned. "Mystic?" he said, throwing out a guess of his own. Much to his surprise, Sandy nodded, then went back to the dreaming child, before the child faded out. "Dream? Mystic Dream?"

Sandy showed the dream over the head of the mystic, now sleeping. "The Mystic's Dream?"

He nodded, then started flashing through symbols faster than Jack could ever have hoped to translate. Bunny got the gist of it though. "You mean it's the song she uses when she needs to do multiple things?" he asked. Sandy nodded again as they walked past another set of doors. "Must be something big if she could only send out one message at a time. It means she's already multi-tasking."

Jack nodded, then watched in awe as North's sleigh was pulled up in front of them by six very large, very restless reindeer.

"Okay. One ride," he muttered, hopping up into it behind Sandy. Bunny kept off to the side and tapped the sleigh cautiously with a foot.

"I, uh… I think my tunnels might be faster, mate. And uh… Safer," he muttered before turning, as if to walk away. North laughed.

"Oh no you don't," he said, grabbing Bunny and sitting him down in the sleigh. "Buckle up."

Before Bunny could come up with a reply, the sleigh was shooting off through the ice tunnels, and he found himself clutching at anything he could.

Finally, after more loops than he thought his stomach could handle, the ride evened out a bit, and Jack whooped before landing on the back of the sleigh. "Wow… Hey Bunny, get a look at this view!" he said happily, standing up and crying out in surprise as the wind caught him. Sandy looked over his shoulder in worry as Bunny forced himself to look out over the edge of the sleigh.

"Aw, you do care," Jack teased from where he was laying on the sleigh's runners. Bunny scowled.

"Shove off you show pony," he grumbled, settling back into the sleigh and trying not to get sick, even as Jack hopped back in and North pulled a snow globe out of his coat.

"I say… Tooth Palace," he muttered, before tossing the globe out ahead of the sleigh. They passed through the portal quickly, only to watch in shock as hundreds of small horses made of black sand ran past them. A bright pink that bordered on crimson shot through them one by one, and each horse, upon bursting, released either mini-fairies, or teeth that were caught by the small cloud of mini-fairies that was never straying very far from Tooth, who was revealed to be the source of each crimson-pink blast.

Sandy opened up a dreamsand umbrella and one of the horses splattered on it, dropping teeth across the floor of the sleigh. Jack jumped up, grabbing a mini-fairy as one of the horses tried to snatch her up and settling back down on the sleigh carefully, opening his hands. "Hey little Baby Tooth. You okay?"

Tooth flew down near them and pointed to the rock structure North was flying them towards. "We have to help Siren! She's running out of magic," she shouted frantically. North nodded and snapped the reins again. Jack held on as he wove through the rocks and then the spires of Tooth Palace. Then he spotted the white-haired woman surrounded by mini-fairies, teeth, and black sand horses.

Jack watched in amazement as Bunny jumped out, followed quickly by Sandy, to fight them as North brought the sleigh to a stop. North himself joined in the fight quickly, and Tooth wasted no time checking on her fairies. Jack himself, upon seeing that she passed easily through the shield, joined in, only to have one of the horses kick him into a very solid shield. The next thing he knew, he had fallen down to the platform below.

Finally, as the black sand dispersed, Siren stopped singing and looked up at the four in front of her with gold eyes, and Jack look startled for a moment as she looked over the ledge at him. She smiled and reached into a pocket, before a blast of black sand hit her in the back and carried her off.

"No!" Tooth cried in surprise, trying to catch the small cloud of black sand, only for dark laughter to ring out.

"Oh, who would have thought. The Big Four, all in one place, and little Siren as well. Why, I'm a little star-struck."

Jack looked up in shock as Pitch looked down over the ledge. Tooth glared openly and flew up at him as he faded into the shadows.

"Pitch! You have got thirty seconds to let go of Siren and give me back my fairies or—"

"What? You'll stick a quarter under my pillow?" Pitch taunted from a ways away. Then he faded out again. "What's this? Jack Frost? Since when are you also champion?" his voice rang out. Jack frowned.

"I'm not…" he muttered.

"Oh, good, a neutral party," Pitch said, leaning nearby. As he stood, he smirked. "Then, I'm going to ignore you, but you must be used to that by now."

"Pitch, you get back here!" Bunny yelled, jumping down just for the Bogeyman to disappear.

"Go suck an egg, Bunny," he muttered from below, Bunny knelt, trying to grab him even as he disappeared.

Tooth grabbed one of Bunny's boomerangs and flew up toward him with something reminiscent of a war cry, only to stop short as a horse, much larger than those that had taken her fairies and the teeth, reared up in front of her.

"Oh, don't be nervous, it only riles them up more," Pitch said, petting it and drawing his hand away to reveal a small swirl of black sand. "Look familiar, Sandman?" he asked as Sandy's own dreamsand swirled similarly in the Guardian's hand before Sandy glared at him. "It took me a while to learn how to do it, turning dreams into nightmares."

A furious string of images appeared over Sandy's head, but one stood out, and that was the profile of a girl that, now that her hair color wasn't messing around with his mind, Jack realized was Syn. Or, as everyone else seemed to be calling her, Siren.

Pitch threw his head back and laughed. "I'd rather she not be borrowing your dreamsand, thanks. And the only way to keep a songbird quiet is to cage it," he replied.

Sandy openly glared at him, causing Jack to wonder just what the relationship between the Guardian of Dreams and the woman he'd met only the day before was.

Just then, Tooth gasped as the palace around her started to fade and fall away. "Oh look… It's happening already. Little children are waking up, and finding out that the Tooth Fairy didn't come," Pitch said, a smirk on his face. Jack looked around in confusion.

"What's happening?" he wondered.

"They… they don't believe in me…" Tooth whispered. Pitch grinned.

"Oh, didn't they tell you, Jack? It's great being a Guardian, but if enough kids stop believing, everything your friends protect, hopes, dreams, it all fades away. And, little by little, so do they," he said. "No Christmas, or Easter, or little fairies that come in the night. There will be nothing… but me."

Bunny growled and sent a boomerang after him, and Pitch jumped onto his nightmare, riding off even as all four Guardians and Jack chased after him.

As they hit the ground however, it became obvious that Pitch had escaped into the shadows somewhere. Tooth knelt over a couple of canisters of teeth that had fallen while the rest of her fairies returned after North told them to put the teeth into his sleigh, with the intention of taking them back to the North Pole.

"I'm sorry about your fairies," Jack said as Baby Tooth flitted around. Tooth smiled slightly.

"You should have seen them. They put up such a fight, answering to every order Siren gave them without hesitating, risking themselves to take the teeth," she said. Jack frowned.

"Why would Pitch take the teeth?" he wondered. Tooth sighed.

"It's not the teeth, it's the memories they hold," she replied. At the confused look on Jack's expression, she started hovering, floating over toward the mural nearby as Jack walked out onto the pond, freezing it as he crossed. "That's why we collect the teeth, Jack. They hold the most important memories of childhood, and when someone needs to remember what's important, we help them." Tooth smiled down at him. "We had everyone's teeth. Even yours."

Jack looked up at her in surprise. "My… teeth? My… my memories?" Tooth nodded.

"From before you became Jack Frost," she told him. He shook his head.

"But, I wasn't anyone before… Oh…" Jack trailed off, all confusion fading as shock, horror, and guilt washed over him. Sandy read his expression almost perfectly, floating over with a question mark over his head as Jack sat on the ice he had created.

North and Bunny used the ice to walk over to him as well, before North echoed Sandy's silent question. "What's wrong?"

Jack shook his head and looked up at them. "It's my fault Syn got captured by Pitch…


	4. Chapter 4, Synclaire Desirae Iren

**And then here's the second chapter that is a few days late. Enjoy and review, please!**

* * *

I sighed and held the three canisters close as one of Tooth's mini-fairies, who had been exhausted and had slipped into a pocket for a quick rest, flitted about. It gave me a look and chirped out something that sounded conspicuously like the melody I always used to contact Tooth. I shook my head.

"I can't," I told her. She gave me a look that was easily translated as 'why?'. I sighed and looked out at the tall shadow that was watching a globe of lights very attentively. The fairy sighed and slipped back into my pocket as I looked down at the teeth.

Two had pictures of girls on them, the third was a boy, but all three were brunettes, two with green eyes, one with brown.

I smiled softly as a song came to mind. Not to be mixed with magic, mind you, just to sing.

"_Habataitara modorenaii to itte~"_

I heard Pitch start grumbling before he was outside the cage he had shoved me (very roughly) into. "I thought I told you not to try anything," he hissed. I ignored him.

"_Mezashita no wa, aoi aoi ano sora~"_

**Synclaire Desirae Iren**

Jack shook his head and looked up at them. "It's my fault Syn got captured by Pitch… That's why she was there in the first place. She was looking for my memories," he told the Guardians. Tooth frowned.

"What do you mean?" she asked. Jack shook his head and stood, beginning to pace.

"We got to talking earlier… She said something about all of us being someone else before becoming spirits, and… as soon as she realized that I didn't remember anything from before I became Jack Frost, she asked me if I'd be sticking around Burgess for a while and flew off after telling me she'd be back," he explained. Tooth, Bunny, and North watched him in shock, while the expression on Sandy's face was impossible to read. Then the tooth fairy gasped as a few feathers floated down away from her.

"Oh no, the children…" she whispered, looking up at the mural, which was quickly fading. Jack watched in horror. "We're too late."

"No!" North objected. "No, no such thing as too late!" He started pacing, now back on the shore, and the other five joined him, Baby Tooth continuing to flit around Jack. Then just as Bunny was about to pull out an egg and a paintbrush, he had to lean back to avoid the sword North waved into his face. "Idea!" he declared happily. Then, using his swords to point to all of them, he continued, "We will collect the teeth!"

Tooth immediately freaked out. "What? We're talking seven continents… millions of kids!" she cried. North and Bunny both got that confident look on their expressions.

"You know how many toys I deliver in one night?" North asked.

"And eggs I hide in one day?" Bunny added. North looked up at where Jack was crouched on a ledge.

"And, Jack, if you help us, we will get you your memories back," he continued. Jack looked happy for a moment before it faded to concern.

"What about Syn?" he asked. Bunny frowned.

"Why do you keep calling her Syn?" he wondered. Sandy waved to get their attention before a name wrote itself out over his head.

"Synclaire Desirae Iren?" Tooth read the name aloud. Then her eyes widened in surprise. "Des Iren? She's… Siren?" she asked, looking at Sandy in shock. He nodded slowly, and the others gave her an odd look. "Des Iren died nine years ago, just as the band she'd worked her whole life to build up was finally getting noticed. I had to help _ten_ people remember their childhoods just because of that, and that's rare. Usually a person's death won't affect people like that, and especially not that many."

Jack frowned. "But, what are we gonna do? We can't just let Pitch have her," he asked. Sandy looked sad, but the series of sand images got his message across loud and clear.

Tooth first, then Syn.

* * *

_Syn's memories, ten years previously…_

"Des! Des, wait up!"

I grinned and turned around, spotting the familiar, really long ponytail of the girl who had been my best friend since pre-school. "Hey, Ky!" I called as she ran up to me, out of breath. She was large boned and slightly overweight, but all things considered, she was in pretty good shape, seeing as how she could outlast half the soccer team during practice before she needed a break.

"So, doing anything important today?" she asked, adjusting the purple backpack that I swear was identical to the one she'd had in kindergarten. I shrugged.

"I was planning on heading down to the creek tomorrow with Everett and Nathan for a little 'sword' practice, and then I was gonna go bug Shandon, but I honestly didn't have anything planned for today. Why?" I asked. Ky grinned.

"Oh good. Then, I'm going to call my mom and tell her I'm bothering you for the afternoon," she replied. I sighed in mock exasperation.

"Avoiding dishes again?" I guessed. She cringed.

"And a three to five-page essay for health, depending on whether I want to type it or write it," she added. I stopped halfway through rolling my eyes to frown and give her a stern look. "It's Graven, I really only need to do the first paragraph and then I can half-ass the rest."

I groaned. "Aren't you failing that class?" I asked. She grinned.

"Yup. But that's because I don't do the homework, not because I don't pay attention," she replied. I crossed my arms and gave her a look.

"What other homework are you putting off?" I asked. She flinched.

"Ah, well… Um…" and then she sighed, giving up. "Spanish from hell because I've got two chapters to make up and two to get done for… Tuesday, I think… Plus a bunch of pages in the packet… An English paragraph, the Health essay, plus the lesson questions and worksheet…"

"Basically, everything," I grumbled. She bit her lip.

"I don't like the homework," she stated. I rolled my eyes and grabbed her arms, dragging her along behind me as I walked to my house. She sighed. I didn't like having to go all 'intervention' on her, but once in a while, it was necessary. Like right now, for instance.

"So, any History, Algebra, or Meteorology?" I asked. She nodded.

"No History, but… only a couple problems on Algebra, and then… yeah, Meteorology," she replied. I nodded.

"We'll start with the Spanish and go from there then. You've got everything, right?" I said. She bit her lip again and I sighed, turning and dragging her back toward the school. "Come on…"

* * *

_Present…_

"Left central incisor, knocked out in a freak sledding accident. I wonder how that could have happened, Jack," Tooth said, a teasing smile on her face. Jack chuckled.

"Kids, huh?" he replied. Tooth slipped a quarter under Jamie's pillow and floated over the sleeping boy.

"This is the part I always liked best. Seeing the kids… It makes me wonder why I ever stopped," she said.

"Ah, there you are!"

Jack and Tooth turned to shush North as he came through the window, Sandy right behind him. "Oh…" North mimicked them as he realized that Jamie was right there. Then he looked over at Tooth. "How are you feeling?" he asked. Tooth grinned.

"Believed in," she replied.

"Oh, I see how it is. All working together to make sure the rabbit comes in last," Bunny grumbled, getting up out of his tunnel. All four of them turned to shush him.

"You think I need help? Check it out, Peter Cottontail," Jack mocked, pulling out a bag that he had filled with teeth. Bunny smirked.

"You call that a bag of choppers?" he asked, pulling out a bag of his own, larger than Jack's. "Now _that_'s a bag of choppers." North came between the two of them before Jack could start a fight.

"Gentlemen, we are here to help Tooth. This is not contest. But, if it was…" he trailed off before dropping an even larger bag of teeth on the floor. "I win!" He then started cheering, though it was cut short by a flashlight being shined in his face. He staggered back a bit as Jamie's eyes lit up.

"Santa?" he asked in wonder. Looking around, his flashlight landed on Bunny and Sandy next. "The Easter Bunny… Sandman…" Then he set it to shine on Tooth. "The Tooth Fairy? I knew you'd come!" he cheered. Tooth smiled and giggled.

"Surprise, we came," she replied, not quite sure what to do. Jack's lips lifted into a smile.

"He can see us," he whispered.

"Well, most of us," Bunny amended. Jamie waved his flashlight around a few times, but when it returned to Tooth, who was looking down at Jack, the winter spirit realized that he wasn't even casting a shadow. Jamie didn't believe in him, and so couldn't see him.

Bunny chuckled awkwardly. "Sandy, knock him out," he ordered. Sandy nodded and stepped forward threateningly before Bunny rolled his eyes. "With the dreamsand, you gumby!" he grumbled.

Then the dog got up on the bed and started snarling at him. Jamie's flashlight was immediately turned off as he got up to stop it. "No, Abby, stop! That's the Easter Bunny, Abby! Down!" he ordered the dog frantically. Bunny lowered his bag of teeth to the floor.

"Alright, nobody panic," he said. Jack resisted the urge to grin.

"Uh, that's a greyhound. Do you know what greyhounds do to rabbits?" he asked. Bunny scowled.

"Likely never met a rabbit like me before, mate. Six-foot one, master of Tai-Chi…" Bunny started as Sandy rolled his eyes and created a ball of dreamsand.

Jack smirked and tapped the alarm clock nearby, causing it to go off, which only aggravated Abby more.

"Crikey!" Bunny got out before he started jumping around the room, avoiding the little dog that continued to chase him. He jolted Sandy as the Guardian of Dreams prepared to throw his dreamsand at Jamie to put him to sleep, causing him to miss and hit Tooth instead.

The ball of dreamsand then hit Bunny and Abby before striking North in the face. "Candy canes…" the Russian muttered as he fell onto Jamie's bed. The young boy in question landed in Sandy's arms, only to lose consciousness as Sandy nodded at him.

Jack watched in amusement as one of the carrots floating over Bunny's head took a candy can from North and started dancing, using it as a cane. "Oh, I wish I had a camera right now…" Jack laughed. Sandy turned away from the bed he had just placed Jamie in and gave Jack a look that should have been scolding, but Sandy was just too amused himself for it to look all that serious.

It didn't last long though, quickly changing into concern, and Jack turned to see the two nightmares at the window. Without hesitation, Jack jumped through. "Come on Sandy!" he called behind him. Sandy looked around at the other Guardians, before stepping over Tooth's sleeping form and following Jack. If nothing else, he could attempt to keep the teen out of trouble.

The two raced through the night sky over Burgess, trying to catch up to the nightmares as they ran.

That was when Jack first heard Siren's song in his head, conveying a message.


	5. Chapter 5, Sorrow and Insanity

"The lights, why aren't they going out!?" Pitch hissed, circling his globe. I grinned at his frustration. A nightmare whinnied something. "_They_'re collecting the teeth?" he echoed. I turned away and put the headphones over my ears. He had grumbled when I had started doing it, but I honestly didn't want to listen to his rants.

"_Hajime to owari no iranai imi~"_

I spotted a black sand figure appear over his hand for a moment before he crushed it, and my eyes opened wide. It hadn't been hard to recognize the figure. How could I not, when he had been bugging me repeatedly for the last nine years?

"_Kono kokoro jouhatsu e to~"_

And unfortunately, my too-sharp-for-my-own-good mind knew exactly what Pitch had in mind. As well as the consequences of killing the Sandman.

"_Dare ga hinsei o oboeteru ka~"_

I was going to have to warn someone, somehow. Sandy himself, of course, but who else? Chances were, I'd barely have enough time for one, let alone two, though that depended on which song I used. It'd have to be a Guardian, that much was certain. But which one? And who was the new guy?

"_Kyouki no mado kara, sayounara~"_

I barely remembered that Jack had been with them at Tooth Palace. What if he was the new Guardian? I thought it over and nodded, praying that I was right in my assumptions that he was, in fact, the newest Guardian.

**Sorrow and Insanity**

The song came into his head as if he could hear her singing just down the block. Judging from the look on Sandy's face, the golden man heard it too.

"_Ne, doko de atta koto ga nai ka~"_

The feeling of worry washed over Jack as the Japanese words rang in his head.

"_Ne, itoshii kimi to hanashitai~"_

A warning came next, focusing the worry Jack felt so that it was directed toward Sandy.

"_Ne, jikan wa? Kyou wa? Wakaranai~"_

Jack frowned as the image of Pitch clutching and destroying a black sand image of the Guardian of Dreams worked its way into his head.

"_Ne! Wasurete shimaeba yokatta~"_

Concern, fear, a flash of pain that Jack had a feeling wasn't supposed to slip through, and something as close to 'good luck' as the feelings rushing to him could get were the last things through with the song as it faded from his mind.

He gave Sandy a look before swerving to the side to continue chasing one of the nightmares. Sandy chased the other through a building, coming out the other window riding it before placing a hand on what would be its shoulder. It turned gold, causing the Sandman to smile before he turned it into a manta ray that flew through the sky gracefully, him still on its back.

"You know, for a neutral party, you spend an awful lot of time around those weirdoes," he heard Pitch comment. He landed back in the shadows, staying back for a couple of reasons. "This isn't your fight, Jack."

Jack glared. "You made it my fight when you kidnapped Syn and stole those teeth!" he shot back. Pitch watched him in confusion.

"Teeth? What do you care about the teeth?" he asked. "And for that matter, why would Siren's fate matter to you?"

Sandy chose then to walk forward, catching Pitch's attention without even needing to do anything. The Bogeyman jumped a good yard and a half away from him and then grinned. "Ah… Now this is who I was looking for," he said. Sandy drew his whips, not hesitating to attack Pitch. After dodging the first few attacks, the Bogeyman created a scythe out of his black sand, using it to attack Sandy and nearly taking Jack's head off in the process.

Sandy caught Pitch's arm with a whip and started throwing him around, banging him into multiple things before tossing him loose. As he and Jack walked to the edge of the building, Jack chuckled nervously.

"Remind me never to get on your bad side," he joked. Sandy smiled slightly before a glare settle back into place upon landing softly on the ground. He stalked forward, Pitch scrambling backwards.

"Look, look, alright, I'm sorry!" Pitch said quickly. "You don't know what it's like to be weak, and hated. It was stupid of me to mess with your dreams. So I'll tell you what," he continued, standing up. Then he looked up at the duo that walked toward him. "You can have them back."

Hundreds of nightmares began surrounding them, trapping Jack and Sandy. "You take the ones on the left, I'll take the ones on the right?" Jack said uncertainly. Sandy gave him a look that was perfect for expressing their current situation.

As Pitch rode up on one of his nightmares, Sandy's whips materialized again. Pitch grinned. "Boo!"

The nightmares attacked all at once, Sandy taking out two before North's sleigh rode just overhead. Grabbing Jack's arm, Sandy started flying up and into the sky. The nightmares turned back into black sand, circling around the two as they continued to climb.

Sandy tossed Jack out of the way and continued further up, while Jack fought off any and all nightmares that came too close to him, all the while trying to work his way up to where Sandy was, Siren's message screaming in his mind.

Sandy was in danger, and as Pitch drew his arms back as if drawing a bow, he knew he was too far away. Jack screamed 'no', pushing himself as far as he could, trying uselessly to reach Sandy, even as the black projectile landed squarely in the Sandman's back. Sandy turned to look at Pitch, who laughed.

"Give in to the fear, little man," the Bogeyman taunted. Sandy fell to his knees, fighting against the fear, but as the black sand enveloped what he had been, he glared up at Pitch defiantly.

Just in time for Jack to start shooting frost at Pitch. In a last ditch effort to help the Guardians, Sandy grabbed a handful of his dreamsand and tossed it to Jack, before the nightmares overtook him completely.

Jack gasped in shock as one small stream of dreamsand shot toward him, catching it in his hands before the danger of the situation reached him again. Willing it to slip into the cracks of his staff, which it did, making Jack thankful, he started blasting the oncoming nightmares with ice, intensifying it in strength as much as he could.

He blacked out before he could see Pitch's nightmare sand freezing and shattering.

* * *

He opened his eyes cautiously. The first thing that crossed his mind was 'where am I?' followed quickly by 'hey, nice music', which he smacked himself for. Looking around, he appeared to be on the roof of an auditorium of some kind. He looked around, then looked up and gasped. Sandy sat on a cloud of his dream dust, nodding his head in time with the song Jack could hear playing.

As the song came to an end, cheers rang out below, and Jack started as he realized that there was a concert going on below.

And as another song started, this one with a familiar voice singing, Sandy stood and, still in time with the song, began sending out dreams. When Jack realized that it was Syn singing, he froze in shock, then moved forward. Sandy didn't even bother to turn when he said 'hello', and when he moved to place a hand on his shoulder, he passed right through him.

"Okay, then. I guess I'm not actually here," he muttered, turning and shrugging as he sat to enjoy the concert.

When Syn cut off mid-word, Jack and Sandy both looked down in worry, since they could hear screams taking the place of the music.

Sandy rose on his cloud to look around, while Jack stayed on the roof, or at least tried to. He found that he couldn't move more than a few yards from Sandy's position, regardless of which direction he tried to go.

"Is this… one of your memories?" Jack whispered, looking up at the Sandman. He didn't expect an answer, even as they continued to float around. Sandy expression suddenly became very concerned as he descended rapidly to the side of a girl whose hair was dyed black with violet streaks. About an inch and a half near her scalp were a light brown.

Her green eyes close before Jack and Sandy could reach her, and as Sandy checked her pulse, his expression went from concerned to grieving. Jack gasped as he realized that she had died. Then, as Sandy brushed her hair out of her face, he realized two things. First, the dead girl was Syn.

Second, her face held quite a resemblance to Sandy's. The Guardian of Dreams looked up at the moon, the pained look on his expression even louder than the already unbearable but silent 'why' he was screaming. Jack watched the two in shock.

Then, as eight teens ran up to her, one of them immediately taking her body in his arms, Jack started to realize why Tooth had needed to release their memories of childhood. These guys were caught between being children and adults, and their best friend, girlfriend, in one case, was dead.

Sandy watched them sadly and turned away from the scene, unable to watch anymore. But even as Jack watched, a moonbeam landed on him, then shifted toward the girl. Sandy jumped in slight shock, before looking up at the moon, then the girl's friends, and then the moon again.

He turned and let out eight small streams of dreamsand, and they fell asleep, even as the moonbeam concentrated around Syn.

Her hair turned white, and black streaked through it, and when she opened her eyes, they matched Sandy's perfectly for color.

Jack closed his eyes at the expression on Sandy's face.

* * *

**So, if anyone wants to read more of this, let me know now or forever hold your peace, because my computer crashed and took the next four chapters with it, and my plot bunnies don't want to re-write all of that unless they absolutely have to.**


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